Parallaxes and Proper Motions of OB stars

We investigate the spiral structure in the solar neighborhood revealed by Gaia DR2 and compare it with that depicted by VLBI maser parallaxes. We examined three samples with different constraints on parallax uncertainty and distance errors and stellar spectral types: (1) all OB stars with parallax errors less than 10%; (2) only O-type stars with 0.1mas errors imposed and with parallax distance errors less than 0.2kpc; (3) only O-type stars with 0.05 mas errors imposed and with parallax distance errors less than 0.3kpc.

In spite of the significant distance uncertainties for stars in DR2 beyond 1.4kpc,the spiral structure in the solar neighborhood demonstrated by Gaia agrees well with that illustrated by VLBI maser results. The O-type stars available from DR2 extend the spiral arm models determined from VLBI maser parallaxes into the fourth Galactic quadrant, and suggest the existence of a new spur between the Local and Sagittarius arms.